Editorial: Liquid asset Many predict that the major conflicts of the coming century will be fought over water. And the unpredictable impacts of climate change mean that we cannot simply rely on surface water resources to continue to be replenished by rain.

Breaking the bonds of global warming US scientists have managed to prise apart the highly unreactive carbon-fluorine bond at room temperature, potentially paving the way to the efficient disposal of hydrofluorocarbons -- highly stable and long-lived greenhouse gases.